Amazn Tube and Propane Smoker

  • Some of the links on this forum allow SMF, at no cost to you, to earn a small commission when you click through and make a purchase. Let me know if you have any questions about this.
SMF is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

vmastros

Fire Starter
Original poster
Sep 11, 2013
72
12
San Dimas - So Cal
Greetings Fellow Smokers,

I have had a Smoky Mountain Series Landman propane box smoker for about 4 years. It works great but it is a pain to feed it chips over a long cook. I thought I would try the Amazn Tube and start using pellets. If I set the smoker to 225F the tube works OK, just light smoke. If I set it to 275F, it will not stay burning. The problem, of course, is not enough oxygen.

I have chatted with Todd at Amazn, but no matter where I place the tube (no jokes please), the results are not optimal. If I turn the propane burner off, the tube smokes like a good thing.

So my questions are:

Has anyone been successful with the same set up I have?

If I wanted to poke some holes in the box, where to place the tube, where to place the holes in relation to the smoker (above, below, next to)  and how many holes, what size?

I hope you can help. If this doesn't work, it will cost me a lot of money for a Rec Tec, Yoder or MAK.  Thanks.

Vince
 
th_dunno-1%5B1%5D.gif
  I would drill some hole for more air. If it doesn't work you can always put a bolt with a large washer in the hole to fill it.

Happy smoken.

David
 
Vince, evening....  Your particular smoker aside.....  the general rule for maintaining good smoke in propane smokers is....   The smoke can't pass through the flame.....  recirculating smoke in the cook chamber will pass through the smoke and thus be consumed...  So, a fairly decent air flow, through the smoker, should be the goal...  having the AMNTS above the burner should be a help.... extra holes in the sides, near the top and bottom of the smoker is what I recommend..  Using a step drill, start with 1/2" holes... 2 on each side... near the bottom and top...  that will give you 4 holes in all...    see how that works for you... enlarge the holes if need be or drill more..   That arrangement will help reduce the recirculating smoke also..  If more air flow is needed, start with enlarging the top holes or drilling additional holes near the top....    Dave   
 
I drilled six half-inch holes on the side and positioned the tube between the two rows of holes. First i tried only four holes and it was not good. initial test at 275-300F looked promising. It smoked pretty well. I'll try it for real this weekend.

Thank you both for your input. I appreciate it.
 
I use mine in my GOSM with no issues. Of course mine leaks air all over the place. The only issue I have had is spontaneous combustion at temps above 300*

I would have recommended doing theailbox mod. I have done that and it works great. I will post the photos at some point. In the door of the mailbox I drilled a hole slightly larger than the tube. At the rear there is a 3" hole that I attach dryer vent to and that attacheds to one of the lower vents of the smoker. I insert the full tube thru the hole in the door, up to the band at the open end. Light the tube as normal, blow out after 5 and let it go.
 
sometimes...sometimes... in my tube i throw a wood chip in there after ive gotten it going and that'll usually keep burning when i close the lid on my gas grill to ensure the pellets stay lit..i have good airflow in mine but on those windy days when i have to plug up some of my holes with magnets or foil, the chip keeps it going. . i dont use it in my prpane smoker, got plenty wood for that..
 
Well, I did my first smoke with the new set up. I got the butcher at Sam's to cut me a chuck roast about 4 inches thick, about 5 lbs. I slathered it with a mix of chipoltes in adobo sauce and various spices whipped up in the blender. I set it in a 225F smoker with the 12" smoke tube filled with hickory pellets. That was at 6:30 a.m. when it hit the grill.

The tube was smoking very well, I guess too well. It went through the pellets in about 2 hours.  My original problem was trying to keep the tube smoking when going at 275F. I did not see the problem as much at 225F, but now I have these new holes in the smoker box. I know that a 12" tube should go for about 4hours, so I know now I have too much oxygen for 225F.  I loaded a second tube and it too went for 2 hours.

At 2:00 p.m., the IT was about 147 and it seemed stalled. Since it had about 4 hours of smoke, I decided to pull it out of the smoker and finish it in the oven at 275F. Six hours later, at 8:00 p.m., the wife and I are getting hungry but the IT was only 197F. I was shooting for 205. I pulled it out of the oven and went at it with no rest period. I know I should have let it rest for hour but hunger makes you do crazy things.

I was a bit disappointed. The roast was slightly dry, did not pull as well as expected and the smoke ring and smoke flavor were not very evident. It was tasty and made nice sandwiches but not what shooting for.

The lessons learned:

     1) Use a smaller roast

     2) Plug some holes in the smoker box to get the tube working properly

     3) Allow the roast to get to 205F and give it time to rest.

There is an old saying, "Experience is what you get when you don't get what you want."  Yesterday was a learning experience.
hit.gif
 
You might try putting an angled sheet metal "deflector" shield under the tube angling from the side of the smoker below the tube, towards the center of the smoker and just enough to clear the tube, then bend up say a 1/2". That would keep as much of the combustion gasses which are lacking in O2 from the pellets and still allow the air from the new holes to flow to the tube.

Try it with some aluminum foil before putting in a permanent shield. If it works and you like the results I would either screw or pop rivet the shield in place. I would also try it with foil over the added air holes to see how well it performs with the shield alone.

The reason I think this might help is the ash pan in your photo is pushing the heat and combustion gasses out towards the sides of the smoker and also towards the tube & pellets. And from what you are now saying there may be too much air coming in (actually being sucked in by the stack or chimney effect as the hot burner gasses rise sucking in more fresh air through the holes stoking the pellets and making them burn faster than normal). If covering the holes and using a shield work, just pop rivet a piece or sheet metal over the holes (or make a sliding damper so you can control the flow as needed).
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the response Dave.  I'll go up to Home Depot and get some metal plugs used for electrical boxes to plug some of the holes in the box. Your idea about the deflector sounds good too.  Thanks.
 
Just wad up some aluminum foil to test the theory.  If it works, then spend the money on electrical hole plugs.  Same for the deflector.  Try it first.
 
I still don't quite understand why yours wont work. I have had no issues getting perfect TBS using the tube in my GOSM, with no mods at all. The only issue that I have had is the pellets catching on fire when doing smokes at temps above 285º. To remedy this I moved the tube and inserted a cast iron flat griddle to diffuse the direct heat.
 
View media item 427227
I'm glad someone is making some progress with the tube smoker.  I can't get this thing to work no matter what I do.  My smoker is propane with a single propane burner that burns the length of the smoker.  I bought the tube smoker in order to get some smoke but no matter where I put it I can't get any smoke once I light the burner.  I had another burner made so that I can cook by indirect heat also with the mind set that if I place the Tube smoker on the side where there is no flame and align it right up under the exhaust tube I would get smoke and that didn't work.  I can place my tube smoker under the flame, over the flame, under the grate but it goes out the minute the chamber heats up.  Should I start drilling holes in my smoker or is my only solution the mailbox mod.  I'm trying to determine if I have a two way issue.  1) the heat is consuming the smoke or 2) lack of airflow.  Any suggestions would be highly appreciated

Thank you.
 
SmokingMeatForums.com is reader supported and as an Amazon Associate, we may earn commissions from qualifying purchases.

Latest posts

Hot Threads

Clicky